A Review of Overview+Detail, Zooming, and Focus+Context Interfaces
A review of interfaces that combine focus and context: overview+detail, zooming, focus+context, and cue-based techniques.
Citation
Cockburn, A., Karlson, A., & Bederson, B. B. (2009). A Review of Overview+Detail, Zooming, and Focus+Context Interfaces. ACM Computing Surveys, 41(1), 1–31.
Method
Systematic review of empirical evidence.
Claims used
- Views can be separated spatially (overview+detail), temporally (zooming), or combined seamlessly (focus+context), each with evidence of successes and failures.
Extracted principles
- Links that preserve and add contextConditionally supported
Following a link should add context instead of replacing it, while preserving the reading trail in the URL.
- Orientation in zoomable spacesNot tested
Pannable and zoomable spaces should show where users are and how to return, to prevent disorientation.
Spatial UIKnowledge navigation